It's been a difficult season for James Rodriguez, and it is fast becoming clear that he has a big decision to make come the end of the season.

The Colombian playmaker is the kind of talent that would have few problems walking into any side across Europe's top five divisions, but so far this term he has seriously struggled for game time at Real Madrid.

In Zinedine Zidane's first full season at the helm, Rodriguez has not been central to the coach's plans, and has struggled to displace those in front of him in the pecking order.

Even when Gareth Bale missed a chunk of the campaign though injury he still wasn't Zidane's first port of call, and had to watch on as his teammates strengthened their grip on the top spot in La Liga without him.

However, with that being said, when he has played he has generally played well, highlighted in Real's 4-2 victory away to minnows Leganes on Wednesday night.

The 25-year-old featured from the start and even managed to get himself on the scoresheet to get Los Blancos on their way to a precious three points by opening the scoring.

However, it wasn't his goal or his performance that grabbed the headlines after the final whistle, but his histrionics upon being substituted during the second half.

With Madrid's 3-0 lead being cut down to 3-2, Zinedine Zidane looked to make a change in order to protect his lead, and decided to sacrifice the playmaker to do so, which, as you might imagine, did not sit well with him.

His face gave away his bad mood as he walked over to the bench, and despite hugging Isco as he made his way on, he let his frustrations out once sat down by punching the dugout.

Much of the following discourse has been about how he has ruined his future chances of more game time with this outburst, but Zidane has said that he understands why Rodriguez reacted in the way he did.

"I have not spoken with him, it is normal that a player wants to play the full 90 minutes," Zidane said, as per Marca. 

"These are things that happen and that's it. He played well and I am pleased with that. I don't have anything against James, quite the opposite. "It is true that he isn't on the pitch as much, but he is offensive and works hard."It happens with Karim [Benzema] too. I am happy with him and it is normal that he is annoyed to be substituted. I do things for the good of the team, I understand his annoyance but he is going to keep being important."

Despite Zidane's comments, though, Rodriguez will want to play as much as he can and may look to push through an exit when the transfer window re-opens over the summer.